‘I LOVE my button machine!!!’

I LOVE my button machine!!!  We’re a small non-profit that takes at-risk kids on horseback outings and each kid goes home with a button to remember the day.  I can’t believe how easy it is to make the buttons plus they look amazing!  Sooooo much better than the old version.  The reduction in our cost to make the each buttons will help us a bunch, too!  We’re now thinking on making buttons to have at Horse Expo in Pomona as a fundraiser and to help cover the cost of the machine!  I’ve gone button crazy!
Thanks so much!!
Sarah Williams
CEO/Co-founder

Testimonial From A Happy Customer

My employment class of students with special abilities were excited to get the 2.25″ Button Machine w/ the Graphic Punch! We immediately put it to use making over 100 memorial buttons for Trent..

Having had a button maker from another company, our success rate for making the buttons was 50-75%. Two students that are lower functioning were assigned to use the new machine. The first batch we made w/ Button Biz’s Button Machine had a success rate of 90%, and the quality and ease of machine usage was phenomenal! The second batch we made had a few more mistakes, because some of us were paying attention to too many other things….(yes, that was mainly my fault!)

I can’t wait to buy more materials and button machines from Button Biz!!! Thank you for your prompt service in sending the product after receiving our order and for a fabulous product!!!!!

Mary Ann - Vocational Adjustment Coordinator
BHS-Home of Gathering Grounds Coffee Crew

Follow Us on Pinterest

If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, where have you been?  Pinterest is a “virtual pinboard”.  It’s a site that allows you to “pin” images from around internet.

Decorating a house?  Pin images of your favorite headboards.  Planning a wedding? Pin cake ideas.  The sky is the limit.

We’ve decided to create our own Pinterest account to share great button ideas, tutorials, and more.  We’ve only created a few different boards but we will be adding more in the future.  We’ve created boards dedicated to fabric button necklaces, fabric button earrings, fabric button tutorials, and also pin-back button ideas.

 

Follow us on Pinterest to find out when we discover new things. While you’re at it, follow us on Twitter.

If you have any ideas you’d like us to share on this blog or Pinterest, please contact us.

Bottle Opener Button Parts

The 2.25″ button machine can make standard pin-back buttons, magnet buttons, mirror buttons, and even key chains.  Today, we are adding another product – bottle openers.

The bottle opener button parts can fit in our 2.25″ button makers.  These parts will not fit Badge-A-Minit button machine.

These are very easy to make and are very popular as promotional give-aways.  The bottle opener will work on any standard pop off or twist off cap.

We offer three options…

 

2.25″ Bottle Opener

2.25 Inch Bottler Opener Buttons

 

2.25″ Bottle Opener with Split Key Ring

2.25 Inch Bottle Open Ring Parts

 

2.25″ Bottle Opener with Magnets

2.25 Inch Bottle Opener Parts with Magnets

 

 

Robotics Teams Love Buttons

Each year, thousands of students compete in robotics competitions across the country.

The most popular robotics competition, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), was founded by the man who invented the Segway. The mission of the organization is to…

Inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

When competitions near, we start getting calls and orders from robotics clubs around the country.  Trading buttons with other teams is one of the most popular social activities at the competitions.  Most teams have a custom logo and team name for the buttons.  Trading buttons is a way for competitors to interact with others and it’s also a keepsake they take with them to remember the teams they met and competed against.


Jerry McCrea/The Star-Ledger

In the photo above, a robotics team from Newton, New Jersey, makes a button with a machine we sell in preparation for their trip to the World Championships.

As the teens prepared to head for the world championship FIRST Robotics competition on Thursday, they made hundreds of maroon buttons emblazoned with their team name, the “Techno Ninjas,” they will swap in Atlanta with their competitors during the three-day event at the Georgia Dome.

Below, are photos from other competitions.

If you are a robotics team, you qualify for our organizational discount.  If you want order a complete button maker system, we can take $25 off the order.  Please email us or call us at 877-260-7422 to order and receive the discount.

 

New Product: Fabric Covered Buttons

We have had a lot of requests over the past few years for fabric buttons. Today, we are introducing our newest product: self-cover fabric buttons.

These buttons can be used in a variety of ways. We compiled a list of some of the best tutorials on the internet. We will also be creating some tutorials of our own in the near future.

 

 

We carry seven different sizes from size 20 to size 75. We also have two different backs to choose from – flat back or loop back. If you are not sure what size you need, we sell a sample pack. The sample pack includes buttons and assembly tools for every size.

Here is a complete list of the sizes we carry.

#20 = 1/2″
#24 = 5/8″
#30 = 3/4″
#36 = 7/8″
#45 = 1-1/8″
#60 = 1-1/2″
#75 = 1-7/8″

If you’re wondering why we refer to the buttons as size 20, take a look at our frequently asked questions page for a complete explanation.

These buttons are extremely simple to assemble. Here is a photo tutorial of the process.

We also include a fabric cutting template with each order so there’s no guessing needed.

Make Money With Campaign Buttons

Sick of political TV ads? Try a presidential campaign button – Des Moines Register

The Des Moines Register wrote a brief article about a retired man selling campaign buttons in Iowa leading up to the Iowa caucus.  After Iowa, the man planned to head to New Hampshire.

He was selling buttons for $5 each or three for $10.  Button Biz is located in Nebraska, but you can see Iowa from our office.  Although I didn’t make it to any Iowa caucus rallies this year, I have been to them in the past.  Four years ago, I happened to be in Denver  at the same time as the Democratic National Convention.

It was amazing to see how many button vendors were in Denver.  The $5 price is very common for people selling buttons.  And I’ve also noticed most vendors sell buttons that are 2.25″ or larger.  The 3″ and 3.5″ seem to be very popular as well.  The reason there were so many vendors was because people were buying a lot of buttons.  It was very common to see people walking around Denver with 5 or more buttons on there shirt.

Buttons that sell for $5 are extremely profitable.  If you take a look at the price per button, these vendors could potentially make $4.75 profit on a $5 button.

It may be a little too late to profit from this year’s Republican presidential primary, but there’s always the general election and the conventions.

Is This The Most Attractive Man to Ever Wear Political Buttons?

George Clooney appeared on the cover of this week’s Parade Magazine. He is wearing several old campaign buttons – mostly from the Kennedy and McGovern presidential campaigns.

A Note From A Happy Customer

I received this email a few days back and wanted to share it with everyone.

Dear Ryan,

We received our order yesterday, everything in tact, thank you.

I want to take a moment to say, I’ve had a Badge-a-Minit for a very long time and made personailzed buttons for several years. This is what brought me, originally, to your website. Looking for parts for my Badge-a-minit.

Although, I have to say the 20% failure rate on the buttons being made, for the labor intensive process, had me ,(shall we say) less than enthusiastic to journey there again. But we have an event, and I needed to make some buttons. Enter your plastic assembly buttons…so simple, I confess I was dubious of success.

Yet, last night (after re-cutting the pieces of artwork–another issue I need to address)…I put the artwork in the disk, put the pin-back on and snapped it together. I thought sure I had “missed a step” or done something wrong, it was so easy.

I did all 50 of them last night.

No sore shoulder from pushing to the “snap” on the ring assemblies. No anxiety about “is THIS one going to work”. And, if I find a cat hair (we have cats) on top of a piece of art, after the asembly, I don’t hve to hang my head in shame and despair. I noticed that these badge assemblies come in different sizes too (so I don’t have to purchase an entirely new kit assembly to make smaller or larger badges! YAY!).

Thank you so much for your help with our order and providing such a great alternative for us.

Sincerely,

Kim Danbert (Willis)

In Politics, Name Recognition Matters and Buttons Help

According to a new study by Vanderbilt University, name recognition is king in politics.

campaign-buttons

Why tech-savvy political candidates still need old-fashioned yard signs – Research News @ Vanderbilt

The study is titled – “Name Recognition and Candidate Support” and it involved three laboratory experiments and a small-scale field experiment in Nashville, TN.

Here is a summary of the results…

[The study] found that individuals not only favor candidates with more familiar names, but also perceive candidates with more familiar names to be more viable. Name recognition matters in low-information races because people want to support likely winners.

The following paragraph was also included in the story…

With limited resources, campaigns must decide how much to spend on yard signs, buttons, bumper stickers and other strategies that serve to increase the public’s familiarity with the candidate’s name. Our study suggests that such efforts can pay off.

Although campaigns are getting more and more high tech, conventional campaign methods still work (and work well).  Buttons are about as conventional and old school as it gets.  Due to costs, many campaigns have turned to stickers in the past few years instead of buttons.  If name recognition is important, a voter needs to see a politicians name more than once for it to really sink in.  The problem with stickers is people throw them away, but people save buttons.  Buttons are a great tool for repeated name recognition.

If you’re a campaign, buy a button maker and make your own buttons for as little as 15 cents.